I use a long bed, with a 460. to haul a camper while pulling a 2 horse trailer.
What improvements can I do to optimize the performance of the truck.
Shocks,air bags?

 

Performance is pretty vague.

What kind of performance? Pulling hills? braking? comfort? road-handling? Increased payload capacity? Increasing towing capacity?

 

The truck has plenty of power, I,m thinking along the lines of handling when loaded with the camper and horse trailer.
Can I get rid of some of the " rocking" the camper causes?

 

How are your sway bars? What have you already replaced? Some heavy duty shocks, upgraded sway bars...i could bet there would be an improvement.

 

The truck is a 1991 F-250 XLT Regcab 460 V-8 with 102,000, with the 4:10 rear axle. The only improvments that i can see were put on the truck, were some shocks in the back with springs on them. There appears to be no swaybar. so that could be looking into. But what else could I do to get a little more power output.

The most the truck will pull is a Lance camper 2,500lbs and a three horese trailer with three horses and tack. Is this to much for the truck? for there is no sticker on the driver's or passenger side door jam.


Thanks John

 

I put a set of Hellwig sway bars (front and rear) on my 75 F-250. They make a world of difference when carrying a camper. My truck didn't have any sway bars and getting passed by a semi on the freeway was unnerving at best. They wern't cheap, but were worth every penny. Next make sure your shocks are good quality heavy duty units. The Rancho RS-9000s are the best out there and are adjustable for softer riding when unloaded, or set them stiffer when loaded up.
You didn't mention whether the truck sags or not under all that weight, but if it does, some over load springs may be in order. Just watch out that you don't overload the truck. The major limiting factor with your setup will be the brakes.

 

A rear sway bar is part of the factory tow package on my 1994. No sway at all with the camper, even in crosswinds.

Jim

 

Your '91 F250 with 460 and 4.10's should have a GVWR of 8800 lbs and a GCWR of 16,500 lbs. You're probably right at the limit of GVWR with the camper and trailer tongue weight. Depending on how heavy your trailer is, you're probably ok on the GCWR. I imagine your truck weighs about 6000 lbs with fuel and people. My crew cab 4x4 weighs about 6500 lbs with fuel.

A rear sway bar will help, as will heavy duty shocks front and rear. If your truck has the factory overload springs, they help alot with sway when the truck is sitting down on the overloads. If you don't have the overloads, look into putting them on. I use Rancho 9000X adjustable shocks in the rear and Bilstein shocks in the front and really like that combination.

Your 35" floatation tires are not helping much with sway. The tall sidewall and load range D low pressure construction are good for offroading but not the greatest for freeway handling with alot of weight on them. Pump them up to full pressure when the camper is on.

I have 33" tires on my '92 F350 and they ride nice and handle the load ok, but they don't feel as firm as the stock size tires with a load on them. One problem my truck has is that my 2000 lb camper doesn't weigh enough to sink the truck fully down onto the overload springs, so it rocks more when going over uneven bumps and sways more around the curves than I would like. It's not bad, just not what I want. I am going to remedy that by putting in some spacers to either raise the overload leaf or lower the frame stops so it sits on the overloads when the camper is on but not when the camper is off. The truck rides just about level with the camper on, so I'm happy with that part of it.

If your truck is sagging below level in the rear, one good way to get it back to level is to use air bags (Firestone RideRites or AirLifts) that go between the axle and the frame. Just don't pump them up too high so that the truck is up off the overload springs or you lose some of your stability.

 

I have F-250 4X4 with overload springs and air bags. I am considering the struts and rancho shocks now. I put a lance camper on and weighed at 6800 lbs. on the rear axle. I have michelin lt 235/85R16 E tires rated 3042 lbs. at 80psi. I feel that the tires are the weak link on my truck and wonder what the best option may be. I am considering goodyear 235/85R16 G tires rated 3750@110, adding duel wheels and fenders, or trying to find 17" wheels that would support heavier duty tires. I feel like I should have bought a duelly in the first place but I really don't want to add those fenders. I am hopeing that larger rims will work and give me more leeway than the goodyear tires. Is there a place to look for simple rims and tires (like they use on ups trucks etc.) and will the axle become the next weak link? I want to be safe!

 

I am going to try the Rickson Truck Wheels setup. Any advice about size to fit in 95 F-250?

 

Garth, I don't know much about the Rickson wheels setup, but if you check out www.rv.net, on their forums are some people who have them and can tell you all about it. Check out both the 'truck camper' forum and the 'tow vehicles' forum. Good luck.

 

My last decision on my f250 purchase is whether to get the stabilizer package. I do intend on periodically towing an 11.3K load but will usually ride around completely unloaded. I will definitely install a stabilizer bar in the rear but my question has to do with the frint springs. I would like to go only as stiff as needed in the front end, keeping some comfort. with the Diesel crew cab long bed I already get at least 5200 lb springs in the front. Is that enough for good stability and safety? I understand that the springs can be upgraded in 400 lb. jumps.; 6000 being the max. I have no experience towing and just don't know how much that really will improve my towing safety.

 

rv.net is great! I found wellsdesigned posts on truck campers forum to be very helpfull. I worry more about my rear suspension and haven't looked into front. I am considering roadmaster xx, airlift ride control, or another helper spring to fit around one helper spring and a air lift super duty or- and swaybars and rancho 9000s after I recieve rickson wheels and tires. safety first-speed last. Thanks for imput- new to all this, Garth

 

I would get some Timbren rubber springs timbren.com they will help your truck support the weight and easy to install. You will be pretty heavy with a camper plus a horse trailer your biggest concern will be brakes. The other problem you willl have is fuel consumption man I hope you have shares in a gas company. You will probably be looking at 5-6mpg with that load maybe down to 4 mpg.